Accuray Inc., a manufacturer of radiosurgery devices, has announced it has entered into an agreement with CyberHeart Inc. under which CyberHeart will use Accuray’s technology to develop a noninvasive method for performing cardiac ablation, which may eventually have applications in the treatment of atrial fibrillation.

Currently cardiac ablation is done during open-heart surgery or as a catheter based procedure in which a catheter is inserted into a blood vessel up to the heart and radiofrequency energy is delivered. Cardiac ablation is most often used to create a lesion that that interferes with abnormal cardiac conduction, with the objective of treating cardiac arrhythmias.

CyberHeart is exploring the use of Accuray’s CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System to generate these lesions noninvasively. The CyberKnife System’s intelligent robotics, accuracy and unique tracking capabilities will be used to target the heart’s affected tissue and create an ablation lesion.

CyberHeart has received commitments for independent venture capital financing to fund technical and clinical research and development of a cardiac ablation system that incorporates Accuray’s technology. In the event CyberHeart is able to successfully develop and commercialize such a system, under Accuray’s agreement with CyberHeart, Accuray will be the sole supplier of radiosurgery equipment to CyberHeart and will also be entitled to receive specified payments based on usage of the CyberHeart system.

According to Accuray, the CyberKnife System represents the next generation of radiosurgery systems, combining continuous image-guidance technology with a compact linear accelerator that has the flexibility to move in three dimensions according to the treatment plan. This combination, which is referred to as intelligent robotics, extends the benefits of radiosurgery to the treatment of tumors anywhere in the body. The CyberKnife System autonomously tracks, detects and corrects for tumor and patient movement in real-time during the procedure, enabling delivery of precise, high dose radiation typically with sub-millimeter accuracy.

The Kardium Globe combined mapping and ablation catheter. The device has a distal multi-electrode array consisting of 16 ribs with 122 gold-plated electrodes. Ablation can be done with up to 24 electrodes simultaneously.